


Mirror Effect

by CutenessCanKill



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bullying, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:27:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24093577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CutenessCanKill/pseuds/CutenessCanKill
Summary: She wants to forget. He wants to understand. She was dying for affection. He was crying for abandonment. These two people, with different needs but similar lifestyles, met for the first time.And all they want is closure but the other gave them so much more.
Relationships: Chrome Dokuro & Rokudou Mukuro
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Mirror Effect

**Author's Note:**

> I got extremely inspired by a Manga I read, _it's called **"Sachi-iro No One Room"** if anybody's curious,_ and I wanted to try my hand in writing stories dealing with themes like that.

"Hey, which do you prefer the sunrise or the sunset?" Silky waves of purple hair fell past the girl's shoulders, as she leaned against the warmth beside her.

Feeling bored, she tilted her head up, hoping to receive attention from the man. It was an odd sight as both her eyes were bandaged up but to her, the entire room was visible. There was no trace of doubt in her actions as she poked the fleshy cheek.

The silence lasted a beat longer before she got pulled into an embrace, arms tightly stationed around her neck. It was a chokehold, something that most people would struggle in, but she could not tell the difference and sat there limply. Another bout of silence ensued before a sigh broke it.

"You really should worry more about your state of mind." She felt the hold loosen and squirmed around to find a comfortable spot on his lap. "I could be a killer for all you know."

Her smile faltered into a pout, hands reaching out for his head. "Well, I'm not dead yet right?" She found the mop hair and pulled it closer, her arms now full of him.

"I trust you, Mukuro."

* * *

They had met a few days ago, one starving on the streets and the other running away. It was a fateful encounter but at that point of time, they had chalked it up to coincidence.

Their eyes met only once in that meeting, purple to blue, emotional to emotionless. Neither age nor gender mattered when it came to the broken eyes they saw in the other. It was like a mirror, cracked, dulled and discarded.

'Lifeless' was the best description. It gave a negative impression to others, but they revelled in it. As to them, there was nothing else to hold onto anyways.

They never interacted after that encounter though, for Mukuro was too busy escaping whatever was chasing him, leaving Nagi to her sufferings. That brief few seconds established a connection but neither were invested in exploring it.

Falling asleep to their dreamless rest, they met yet again. However, this time, on the other side of the broken glass as they sized the other up. It had used to be a mirror, a reminder to themselves of the disgust and ridicule they bring.

This phenomenon was not too out of the world, having been able to control the location to their whims before. It was the connection from before that tugged at their brain. With outstretched hands and searching eyes, they moved closer to the other.

Until their hands met.

There was a lack of warmth that comes from flesh on flesh, just a cold glass pane between them. They did not need to look at the other to know the disappointment they shared. Their hanging limb slid down to their sides, eyes glued to the mirrored floor.

Bruised and scratched echoed back at them, screaming abuse and pain but they did not cry. They could not. Their whole life had to lead up to this point, just bearing with it and trying to end it all.

 **But they were scared**.

Death sounded like an easy way out, one that requires no effort on anyone's end and it was even swift. The only thing that stops either of them was the fear of death itself. Their instincts scream to step away when they reach the rooftop, the tremble in their hands at the touch of a blade.

It was not going to be possible to do anything but accept the world as it is. Their eyes finally met for the second time. Purple on blue and red, a small smile to a straight line, they both looked defeated.

"What's your name, Mister?"

Nagi spoke first, her smile stretching the cuts on her lips. The minor disfiguration of her face did nothing to dent her beauty in the slightest, her innocence shining through. However, such innocence only made Mukuro glance away.

His action prompted nothing but worry from Nagi, her eyes watering slightly. With a shaky voice, she asked once again, for his name. After a few jumps and trudging around, she concluded something with a frown.

"You can't hear me, can you..."

Her dampened spirits further lessened the painful brightness she shone, allowing Mukuro to finally look at her again. He took note of her attire. A simple white dress hugging the thin frame underneath, with eyes hidden behind a curtain of hair. Her hunched back made her look even smaller.

Aside from innocence, Mukuro concluded that she also screams of abuse but he cannot be so sure. Looking back at the ground, he was reminded of his past. The pleads to stop, the cries of anguish, the smell of copper and the robes of white floating near the walls.

**It was Hell.**

The sound of tapping glass made Mukuro look up, seeing a smiling Nagi in front of him. He did not know why he felt something boiling inside him, it was as if he was angry at her but it could not be. ' _She deserved none of that... Right?_ '

"What is your name?" Nagi asked, slower this time and at the sight of his frozen body, she decided to just tell him hers. She dragged the syllables of her name a beat.

"I'm Nagi, nice to meet you."

Another bright smile shone, but instead of the previous avoidance, Mukuro just growled. Hands clenched and teeth gritted. He now knows why he felt this boiling anger inside him. Looking at her, he grounded out a slow.

"Mukuro."

* * *

Their second meeting went less smoothly than the first.

With introductions out of the way, they ran out of things to talk about. Every meeting after that was plagued with silence. The grimace on Mukuro's face when he saw Nagi did not help their relationship grow, serving to only confuse her more.

They would sit down in front of the glass, one's pose compact and the other free. Their eyes would wander around the place as if searching for a topic to discuss. Nagi was the only one who kept glancing at the other, hands hiding her face when spotted.

Her mind conjured up ideas and reason for the pain in her heart she feels when met with those clouded heterochromatic eyes. They would always narrow when met with hers, replicating the ones she had tried to escape from. It brought back memories she wants to forget.

They never raised a hand at her, it was she who kept flinching away but it was still the same. Indirect harm is still harming and Nagi knew that. She always did, even the rumours they kept spreading behind her back were in the open. Those tiny black arrows that find their way to her heart, poking and twisting the open wounds.

She wanted to retaliate, call for help from anyone, but they took care of that too. Their clean reputation did nothing for her but paint her black record darker, and adding salt to wounds, the paint would just keep getting darker than it was before.

Day by day, night by night, they would hammer down the power they have over her. When she tried serving herself, they shoved food down her throat. Even the self-inflicted wounds she gives herself acted as a new story for them to spin. They were masters of deceit and she was just their practice doll.

Giving up resisting was the only small victory she could have, but at what cost? Her happiness? Her life? Her soul? No, worse of all...

 **She lost her ability to feel love anymore**.

"Do you hate me?" Nagi found herself asking.

Her head was still hidden in her hands so she expected no reply. Her eyes darkening at that thought but there was a flash of hope that he would not hear it.

The taps on the glass broke her thoughts, with a heavy head, she looked up. The static face of Mukuro's was cracking slightly, the hints of anger mellowing out. Once he saw that she was looking, he shook his head.

"No, I don't."

Nagi smiled at him, one that did not reach her eyes. "Thanks."

The tapping became more urgent and Nagi looked at him through the slits of her eyelids, hoping that the tears stayed in. She saw Mukuro's frown and knew her act was not convincing enough, immediately trying to rectify it.

Nagi then heard a loud bang and looked at Mukuro, eyes wide from the sudden noise. She saw his blue hair hiding his face as he slowly looked up at her with a scrunched up face and blood dripping from his hand.

'I don't hate you.'

Reading those words, marred in blood, made Nagi turn away, her head was frozen but everything else shook. She did not know how to respond to such honesty, it was very different from just ignoring the pain.

Her mind spun, making sense of the warmth that spread around her body as she continued to shake under the pressure of those imploring eyes of his.

' _When was the last time I felt this way?_ ' She wondered.

**Trust. Honesty. Friendship.**

Those were all just pipe dreams for her when she realised her heritage.

Born out of work than love, she knew that life would just be dealing with leeches after leeches. Once they were exterminated, then comes the masquerade ball. They may look pretty but every one of them hid a deeper darker secret. One can never be great without kicking someone off their position, they ruined their rivals' lives and once they ran out, they will turn on her.

A crack formed in the reflection on the floor, Nagi looked back at the glass and saw an intricate spider web lacing the pane, the small blood drips now became large splats on the glass.

There he stood, in the middle of the web. Slightly panting and sweating but he gave her a smile. Strained but pure. "Please, trust me, I don't hate you." He said again and all Nagi could reply with was a smile and mouth three words.

"I believe you."

* * *

Their sixth day was the most chaotic.

The cracked glass pane did not repair itself, and all that was gone was the bloodstains that had coloured it red. Mukuro entered first, the world devoid of Nagi made him sigh in relief.

Every time he caught her glancing at him, he could feel the irritation rising in him. It was not bad per se, all he wanted to do was get her to speak up and stop fidgeting but after his first impressions towards her...

Mukuro sighed when he recalled the hurt in her eyes.

Sitting down at his usual spot, Mukuro thought back to his life, comparing it to Nagi's. They were different, she was a locked up princess and he was the dungeon born child. Her sufferings were psychological and his were physical. He had escaped his hell to find more trouble while she was stuck in the same loop. However, Mukuto narrowed his eyes when he remembers her eyes.

**Maybe they were not so different after all.**

He glanced into the glass pane and saw Nagi's ethereal form, she was here and at the same time not. Mukuro was seeing the world of Nagi's from an outsider's perspective but he knew that his view of everyone would be warped.

The conversations and noises could not be heard but his view was crystal clear, Nagi sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by her parents staring down at her. They were shouting, wild flailings of their arms precariously near Nagi's face. Their eyes showed nothing but disappointment.

This continued for hours, each parent taking their turn at throwing a metaphorical punch at Nagi, who could do nothing but hang her head. It was for a split second but their eyes met, one hurting and the other observing.

Then, she closed her eyes in a smile and Mukuro felt that boiling feeling simmer back up. He watched as she finally got released and sent to her room, her steps lighter than they should be.

 _Why didn't you fight back?'_ He wanted to ask but it was futile, she was too far gone to hear him. And even if she could hear, Mukuro suspects that she'll never give a reply.

He kept watching over her, the days going by even after that episode. Nagi went to school with a smile that did not reach her eyes, talking to people who has nothing but poison on their tongues. They did not do anything to her which surprised him, though he knew that the day was still young and anything could happen.

Mukuro saw the nudges and damages. Nagi did not get them directly at all, she just accepted all the pain they wanted to inflict on her. Nails in shoes, faulty chair, slippery stairs, she just accepted it all and Mukuro believed that her survival is a skill of its own.

That smile of hers never faded throughout the horrors, Mukuro noted. He remembered that he forgot to smile once he reached the ripe age of four and till his twelfth birthday, not once did that smile returned. Everything he sees now coated in prejudice and malice, nothing was the same ever again.

Shaking his head to ignore his past, Mukuro looked back up at the pane and saw the skidding forwards truck.

"LOOK OUT!" He screamed, standing up from his seat and pressed his hands on the glass.

There was no time to waste, he kept hitting the glass, screaming her name all the while. His throat felt dry as he dully noticed the warm feeling of blood trickling down again. Mukuro continued to punch, the pain in his arms now numb with the glass cracking even further.

It was all for nought, however, as the truck made contact with Nagi. Her body flying a few feet before it and laid there unmoving, blood pooling from underneath her clothes. "NAGI!"

Mukuro sank to his knees, after his last attack, the glass finally shattered but he could not move. Not after the sickening spectacle, he was forced to witness. He knew that she could not have survived the impact. Nagi was always the weaker one between them.

However, it did not mean he could not try. This was going to the first and last time he would show gratitude to those people, for giving him the power to create. Either he was going to save this Nagi or he will create his own one.

**It was the only way.**

* * *

"I didn't expect you to save me though Mukuro," Nagi looked at Mukuro, her eyes were hidden but her stance was curious.

"I thought I was a nuisance to you."

Mukuro sighed at her words, wondering when did she become so cynical of everything he said that. "You were not a nuisance then and will never be, trust me on that."

Watching Nagi nod her head like an obedient child, Mukuro's eyes softened and patted her head, smoothening out the bed head of hers. "That's good."

Nagi leaned into his touch and asked her question once again. "Which do you prefer, the sunrise or the sunset?"

Closing his eyes to think about it, Mukuro imagined what sunrise and sunset would look like and smiled. "Sunset, because it reflects our eyes the best."

He was amused at Nagi's shell-shocked gape and asked.

"What about you?"


End file.
